Blood Rose
by Cold Drake Queen
Summary: SLASH Vincent x Reno Long after Meteor and long after Geostigma and ever after Deepground life goes on. Or does it?


Disclaimer: I do not own anything that Square Enix does. I just really like to play with them in my mind, and on my console.

Warnings: This fiction contains course language, sexual situations and character death. It also contains implications of a very strong male x male relationship. If you are bothered by any of these things please discontinue reading.

A/N: So my muses hate me. They flit in and out leaving me with pieces of stories. Some I finish some I don't. This one took me over a month to write. I promise I will not listen to them until I get every other one done.

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A long figure lay on the ground. His black hair spread out on the ground like the blood that escaped, the colour of the blood matching the red cloak that covered the figure. A figure long dead before the bullet found its mark. A golden-clawed hand resting on a silvered gun on the ground, smoke was still rising from the hot barrel, the other hand holding a single rose tight in its grip. Blood trickling down a pale face growing paler as the blood drained away. Blood red eyes full of sadness staring out into the cruel world. A world that took away what little love he could find in it.

Near his head a blood soaked stone stood, the red colour that fell from it matching the red hair of the picture forever encased in the stone.

Two lives, two loves ended before they were fully realized. Words not said. But the actions sing truer then words. They both knew deep down how the other felt. But neither was brave enough to say anything.

And now in this moment not another word will be said. Not another tear to be shed. Not another heart to beat with the love that consumed them whole.

For them the world was gone.

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"He's just being that arrogant son of a bitch again!" The red head vented. "I did him a fucking favour by saving that precious lone wolf of his and he just brushes us off with not even a damn word!"

"Listen Reno, he doesn't mean to. It's just who he is." His bald headed partner stated calmly.

"He should be on his knees thanking us for helping save the damn world!"

"You know we had to make up for helping to almost destroy it."

The red head turned and glared at his partner. "We were under fucking orders! And the fucking kids! Bahamut could have roasted us alive, but we saved the fucking kids!"

Rude sighed as his partner went on.

"I'm never risking my neck for that damn traitor again!"

"Reno he isn't a traitor. He was assigned to protect Lucrecia before he was locked away for so long by the asshole Hojo. Besides why does his opinion matter?"

Reno stopped in his tracks, looking so much like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. He didn't answer he just left.

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Reno stood there waiting for the Turk Training Robot to reset itself. But it didn't look like it was moving.

'Damn! Broke another one!' He spat out in his mind.

He grabbed the broken robot and dragged it to the pile of its brothers in the corner. 17 robots that would no doubt make the president cringe at the price to fix.

His feet took him to the panel on the sidewall where he ordered another Training Robot to be sent down. As he did many times before he order the top of the line, something that he would find a challenge. He also added a note this time to the request that the Robots were inadequate, that they were too simple to beat.

As he paced the floor he didn't notice that in the observation deck a pair of eyes watched him. They studied. Tried to figure out what was wrong.

Sure they knew he was mad, but about what?

It was very unprofessional to let your emotions rule you like they seemed to do for the red headed Turk.

"Rude what are you doing?" A voice called from the door, funny how he didn't notice the swish of the door as it opened. "Shouldn't you be out in the field?"

Rude turned to see who was speaking to him. "Rufus." The greeting was cold and unprofessional.

"You didn't answer my question."

Rude pointed to the glass behind him. "Partner is training."

"So I heard. According to the records he has been down there destroying Shinra property for about 3 hours."

Rude shrugged and turned back to the glass. He watched as the new Robot set itself up in the square in the center of the room. They had given this one weapons. An improvement over the last ones sent down. It held in its metal hands a sword and a gun. Rude hoped this one would last longer then the last one. Maybe even pulling a draw from the match.

He felt Rufus walk up beside him. Most likely looking to see just how his property was being destroyed.

Rude watched as his partner's nightstick twitched in a pair of pale hands. And then all at once a cry rode from his throat and he lunged forward. The nightstick he held whistling through the hair with impossible speed. Knocking the Robot around like it was a rag doll.

Rufus breathed out loudly beside him. "Rude, why not take him on patrol and take that anger out on some outlaws."

"Do you think that wise sir?"

"It'll be cheaper in the end to explain to people a renegade Turk, then have him destroy all those Training Robots."

"Yes sir."

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Rude watched as the last man fell, badly broken and beaten to death. He rubbed at his temples to try to alleviate the headache that had taken root.

Reno had taken down the last three bands single-handed. And he hadn't even broken a sweat. And the red head looked just as angry now as he did a day ago. Nothing seemed to help.

"Reno, I'm going back to Kalm." The bald headed man told his partner.

"Why? We were ordered to take out the rebels. And they are still out there."

"Fine you can stay and kill them all if you want. But I have paper work to do."

The red head just wiped the blood off his nightstick and walked away into the wilderness.

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Ok, so Rude didn't have any paper work. What he really wanted to do was get down to the base of this problem and fix it from the foundation up.

So his first stop was Seventh Heaven.

He had been there a few times the most recent was when he brought Tifa and Cloud back from Midgar, from the old abandoned church. He remembered carrying Tifa in his arms. She wasn't at all what he had expected. He had expected to find a soft woman. What he found was muscles. She was every bit the fighter that he had seen, a fighter that could stand against nearly anything.

Being the gentleman he was he didn't do much more then carry her. But he did have to admit his mind was wondering what it felt like to feel those muscles move under that pale skin. What it would be like to have those closed eyes flutter as he moved his hands across her skin.

He had to remind himself a few times that he wasn't here for her. She just had information that he wanted. He was there for nothing more.

"Hello, Rude. Can I get you a drink?" Ok, almost nothing more.

"A beer if you please Tifa." I'm not sure if she did it to impress Rude or not but she started to flare. Not the wimpy 'I'm serving drinks as fast as I can' flare, but the full all out nearly dancing flare. The bottle flew from hand to hand, over her shoulder, under her leg, around her body, always spinning and never spilling a single drop.

It all came to an end with a round of clapping from those present at the bar and a cold beer sitting in front of Rude.

"So what can I do for you today?"

'Let me fuck you hard and fast,' his underworld brain supplied. "I'm looking for information."

Tifa turned away pretending to clean a glass. "Cloud won't be home for a few days."

"This isn't about Cloud. I need to find the ex-Turk."

"What do you want with Vincent?"

"Official Turk business, I can't tell you."

"You aren't out to kill him are you? Because if you are you'd better crawl in a hole, if Chaos finds out he'll tear you limb from limb."

"Actually all I want is information he might have. I wouldn't dream about trying to kill him."

"We usually just call his cell phone and he comes to us." She reached under the bar and took out a pad of paper, writing a phone number on it before sliding it across the bar. "You won't know he got the message you will leave, until he shows up." She slid the paper back for a moment. "If you hurt him I will have your hide."

"You have my promise I won't hurt him."

Tifa wondered how far that promise would go. Turks weren't known to following anybody but Rufus' orders. She just had to trust in him.

Tifa slid the paper back and removed her hand from it.

"Thank you kindly. How much do I owe you?"

"It's on the house."

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Rude paced back and forth, the old buildings making him nervous. He could see the phantoms of the past walking in the rubble. But this is where that ex-Turk had been last seen.

Midgar had never been a place of beauty, but what was left of it was even less then what it had been. With Meteor, Geostigma and then Deepground the city lay in almost complete ruin. Rude didn't even think that even Reeve could put the city back together.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Rude spun on his heels when that silky voice made itself known from the shadows.

Rude swallowed as the dark haired man stepped from the shadows. Memories of Chaos flooded his brain. The look of murder in those blood red eyes as the creature of legend swooped over him in the heat of battle.

"Yes," he croaked out past his fear. "How are you doing Vincent?"

"Tifa called and said you wanted information. Get on with it so I can go back to more important matters."

"Reno isn't feeling well."

"If it's Geostigma we already know how to cure that."

"It isn't. I think you need to talk to him to find out more. Last I saw him he was walking out onto the plains just below Kalm headed for the foothills."

"Why won't you tell me more about it?"

"You are the problem and the cure. Just go talk to him."

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So that was why Vincent found himself wandering around in the middle of nowhere. He wasn't really looking for Reno. He just figured they would bump into each other. They had always met that way in the past.

And it worked well again this time. As Vincent walked around a rock outcropping he saw the red head fighting with a few outlaws.

"Need a hand?" Vincent called.

"No, thank you, not from you."

"And what have I done this time?"

Reno knocked the last of the outlaws out and turned his back on Vincent. "Just for once can you actually not be so cold to me?"

"I thought we talked about this. That it was a one time thing and we weren't going to breath into it anything more then what it was."

"What if it was more then that?" Reno whispered.

"Besides," the raven-haired man continued. "We are on different sides of nearly ever dispute."

"I've though of going AWOL." Reno told the tall raven-haired man.

"Why would you do that?"

"So I wouldn't have to fight you anymore!" Reno burst. "I'm tired of pretending nothing happened. Lord I liked it. I never thought I would.

"Ever since that night I can't help but think about you. You know how fucking hard it was to forget that night?

"The Ancients be damned, Vincent. It's been killing me to see you all those times and not have what we did again."

"You can't say it can you."

"What that we … we …"

"Fucked, fornicated, copulated, screwed, banged, doiked, fudge packed, greeked, tossed the salad, fooled around, had sexual relations, had sexual intercourse, bum fucked, ravished each other, violated each other, banged, humped like bunnies, slept together?"

Reno visibly flinched. "Do you have to be so crude about it?"

"Reno that was years ago. You should have moved on."

"I tried." Reno hung his head in shame. "I tried, but I could never forget you."

"So what do you want? Rude sent me out here to talk to you. Said you were sick and I was the cause and the cure." Vincent took a small step forward. He wasn't to look into Reno's face, but he couldn't make himself reach out and turn the redhead to face him.

"I don't know why he would say that, I'm not sick. I just had a physical a few months back. I passed with a clean bill of health."

"Are you sure it isn't something to do with Chaos? We don't know much about him. Or about me."

"I'm not sick. I just need to work out a little aggression."

"A little more then a little if what I have seen is true." Vincent raised his head so that his face was a little more uncovered. "Tell me what is making you so mad. Then maybe I will spar with you to work off some of that steam."

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Hours later both men where tired. They were both fine. But I couldn't say the same for their surroundings. Not a tree was left standing, no rock was bigger then someone's fist. The grass was dug up in places, and there were places that still burned.

"How are you feeling now?" Vincent asked as Reno let the nightstick fall to his side.

"I still feel the same, only a whole lot more tired. Why did they ever let you out of our ranks? You fight better then anybody I know."

Vincent turned his face away from the redhead, exposing his back. "They didn't let me out. After Hojo put me in that coffin, they figured I had died somehow. So they took my name off the rolls."

"So you didn't go AWOL? You were declared MIA?"

"That's right. My misguided love for Lucrecia lead to my disgrace. And now," he raised his clawed hand, "I will pay the price for that mistake for the rest of my life. Disfigured and a monster."

"I don't care what other people say I still think you are beautiful!"

"How can you say that?"

"It's easy. Vincent, never before have I seen eyes as read as yours, or hair as black as yours. I have never seen skin as pale and flawless as yours."

Vincent felt warm hand run up his back and take hold of his shoulders. He tensed under the touch.

"What are you doing?"

"Vinny, one more night. That is all I ask."

"All you ask? You ask for another night where we are both drunk off our asses and end up screwing each other?"

"I don't want to be drunk this time. I want to have a clear mind."

Vincent turned and looked into a pair of aqua eyes. The red tattoos drawing the eyes to the center. "How much do you remember?"

Reno looked away from the piecing red eyes, memories of Chaos trying to kill him flashing trough his mind.

"Enough to drive me nuts knowing and too little to let me rest."

"Have you ever wondered where that scar on your neck came from?"

"I don't wonder because I got it from Tifa. Those gloves of hers had spikes in them."

"Wrong." Reno's eyes opened wide and looked back into those deep blood red eyes. All fear lost at this new piece of news. "That is what we told you later. Those marks are mine." Vincent lowered the collar of his cloak. "Just like this is yours."

Reno looked at the angry red streak down the side of Vincent's neck ending at his collarbone.

"How the hell did I do that?"

"I'm not sure. But what I am sure of is that Chaos has something to do with it. He won't tell me what it is either."

"You can talk to Chaos?" Reno took a small step backwards.

"He and I are one, he can see everything I see, and I can see everything he can see. We also share this body with The Galian Beast, The Death Gigas and Hellmasker."

"I thought you told everybody that you are different," Reno's fear showing in his voice.

"We are. But we all share this body. Most of the time I can control them, and keep them from ever coming to the surface. But that night I lost my control on Chaos. And he did something."

"And he won't tell you what."

"No." Vincent let the collar of his cloak come back up to cover his neck. "Every time I ask he just tells me it is for my own good. That is why when Rude told me you were sick I came to find you. I thought he might have done something that would kill you."

"But I feel fine. I've never felt better then I have these past months."

"That's good. Lets go back to Kalm now." Vincent turned and started to walk away.

"You know, you have a brilliant way of getting out of something," Reno called to the retreating back.

Vincent stopped in his tracks. "Why do you say that?"

"Never mind, you go back to Kalm and I'll finish cleaning up the country side."

Reno started to walk the other way when he was struck from behind. A yelp escaped his mouth and twisted his body so he didn't land on his face. During the twist he came face to face with his nightmare. Chaos.

The beast growled at him and licked the scar on his neck. Chaos was trying to tell him something. He was sure of it. It didn't tear him limb from limb like Reno knew he could. The dark eyes in front of him looked to be pleading with him to realize something. They looked almost hurt.

"I know you want something," he told the beast. "But I just don't know what it is."

Chaos drew back for a second and then leaned forward and bit into the scar on Reno's neck. Scenes flooded the redheads mind.

He could see the drink in front of him. And then he could see pale skin, unmarked even though he knew Hojo and many monsters have cut into that flesh. He could see the blood red eyes shine through the dark. He could see teeth flash as he was given the scar on his neck that night long ago. He could feel the passion of the moment. He could feel something happen within him. A silent scream ripped the air as he felt something rip from his body. He could feel the cold breeze across his skin as the land hurried away from him. He could see black hair mixed with his own red on the clean white sheets.

The visions tore apart and he came back to reality. Chaos was retreating. And Vincent fell unconscious into the redhead with a groan.

"Vinny! Vinny! Wake up! What did he just do?" Reno shook the limp figure in his arms.

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Tifa paced the floor. She was going to kill Rude. He had promised that Vincent wouldn't get hurt. But Reno had brought the man to her. Unconscious. That had been over a month ago. And still no sign that anything was wrong or getting better. For all she could tell he was sleeping. He breathed, he took water and food when offered it and his heart was still strong.

There was no item that seemed to work. At first she had given Vincent potions and then hi-potions and then x-potions. They didn't work so she had tried every known elixir and ether out there. She had even tried a small piece of phoenix down.

In desperation she had even tried a kiss. She knew it was just a fairy tale, but the princess always awoke with the kiss of a prince. So what if the princess was trying to wake the prince.

After she had tried everything she had asked Cloud to try some Materia. They had no effect on him either.

She had even asked Cloud to ask Aerith if there was anything the ancients could do. Cloud had told her that 'they do not know what Chaos did'.

She had warned Rude about Chaos. But that thickheaded Turk just didn't listen. And the only way to know what had happened was out cold on her bed. There was no other way to talk to Chaos.

Nothing seemed to be able to help her friend. And it was all her fault. If she hadn't given Rude that number none of this would have happened.

"How is he?" A voice said from behind her.

She turned to see a man in a black suit standing in the doorway. "Don't you ever knock?"

"Not my style."

"Out of everything they taught you in Shinra they never taught you manners?" She clenched her fists at her side.

"Sorry love. How is he?"

"Why do you care?"

"Listen Tifa, I don't know how much you know, because I didn't say anything when I left him here, but this is my fault. Chaos tried to tell me something. And when he went back to wherever he goes Vincent was like this."

"What do you mean this is your fault?"

"Rude sent him to me. Told him that I was sick. He thought it was something Chaos did to me. And we talked. We eventually decided to go our own ways, when Chaos tackled me. He showed me some things and then Vinny collapsed on me, and he wouldn't wake up. That is when I brought him back here."

"Vinny?"

Reno squeaked and blushed the colour of his hair. "I mean Vincent."

"How is that your fault?"

"Chaos wanted me to know something, but I just didn't figure it out until now."

"And what is that?"

Reno looked at Tifa. "May I have a moment alone with him?"

"No."

"What?"

"I said no." Tifa dropped into her fighting stance. "You've hurt him and you said it was your fault. You aren't going near him." She let one foot fly catching the redhead in the jaw and sending him crashing across the room.

A groan filled the air, but it wasn't the female fighter or the redhead.

"Vincent!" Tifa flung herself down beside the bed. "Vincent are you ok?"

Vincent looked the same as before. Like the groan had never come from him.

"Tifa, please, let me do this. I need to do this."

"Like hell you are." She spun on her toes and kicked Reno in the side.

Another groan was issued from the raven-haired man's lips.

"Vincent, come back to us." Tifa pleaded. But her pleas went unheard.

Tifa felt a hand grasp the back of her collar.

"Tifa I told you. I need to do this."

Reno flung the woman across the room. She crumpled at the base of a wall and stared back at the man who dare lay a hand on her in her own home. She rose to her feet and saw him pull out his nightstick.

"Tifa, don't make me hurt you. It needs to be done. It's the only way. I would prefer that you didn't see this. But if you won't leave I'm going to have to do this here and now with you watching." Reno let the nightstick fall from his grasp and turned to the unconscious man lying on the bed. "Vinny, I'm here and I know what to do now."

He bent forward his hands extended towards Vincent's neck.

Tifa moved forward a few steps before being stopped by the tip of Reno's nightstick. "I said not to bother us."

She backed up a step before he lowered his weapon and continued where he had left off.

Tifa watched as Reno undid the man's cloak. She gasped at the braveness of the act. Nobody did that. Not anybody. Cloud had tried once and came face to face with an angry Chaos. But Reno had no such troubles.

The cloak fell away to reveal a pale neck with a single red scar on it. Tifa nearly fainted on the spot. She knew Vincent could never carry a scar, but yet there was proof that the man could scar.

Reno let his head fall down and he brushed his lips against the scar.

Tifa had to grasp the edge of the bed when she saw Vincent twitch a little.

Reno looked up toward Tifa and shook his head at her and then he opened his mouth, his teeth showing white against the red of his mouth.

Tifa screamed as Reno leaned down again and bit Vincent along that scar. She was just about to attack Reno again when she saw Vincent's arms come up and grasp Reno by the shoulders.

Vincent's metal claws digging into Reno's arm making it bleed.

And then it was Reno's turn to scream. His back arched back as the pained cry lifted through the air. Tifa whimpered at the amount of pain she could hear in that voice.

Cloud burst through the door at that moment. Ultima Weapon held in front of him as he took in the scene. Barret hot on his heals cam through the door.

"What's wrong?" Cloud shouted over the scream. "Tifa are you ok?"

Tifa nodded and pointed to Reno and Vincent.

Vincent held Reno by the shoulders and Reno continued to scream.

Cloud's mind worked quickly. He remembered a night not to long ago where he had heard the same cry of pain. He has just assumed something had gone wrong with one of the many local gangs. Now he could see it wasn't so.

Reno collapsed onto Vincent as the scream died into nothingness, the silence nearly as deafening as the scream had been.

"Hush Reno, now is not the time." A silky voice said.

Tifa finally took this moment to faint, all that to wake Vincent, so much, yet so little.

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Reno awoke on the soft sheets of a bed. He opened his eyes and groaned. The sun feeling like spikes drilling into his head. He really shouldn't drink anymore it was killer on the head in the morning.

He turned to his side to shield his eyes from the harsh rays, and saw it. A single blood red rose.

Reno sat up and looked at it. He knew what was going on now. He had come to Seventh Heaven to help Vincent. He had gotten into a fight with Tifa before he could help. And then he had bitten the mark on Vincent's neck. The memory of the pain made the redhead shudder.

He picked up the flower and noticed the streaks of black that ran along the petals. He knew this flower. And he knew the only place that it grew. A long rumoured blossom. None knew that it still existed. It was almost a silent message to him.

He quickly got out of bed despite the pounding of his head and went downstairs.

"Good morning." Tifa greeted him.

"Good morning." Reno laid the rose on the bar. "Do any of you know where Vincent went to?"

Cloud looked up from his glass of water and looked at Reno. "No, he said you would know."

"Thank you."

"Hey Reno," Cloud called as the redhead walked out of the room. Reno paused to hear what the blonde had to say. "Where did you get a Blood Rose?"

Reno just laughed as he walked out of the bar into the sunlight.

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Vincent stood in the shadows of the massive ruins, the ghost of his pasts threatening to overwhelm him. He could see the green grass and the flowers in full bloom. He could see a woman standing over a little boy as he learned to crawl in the grass. Happiness filled him for a moment before the scene faded to the overgrown garden and bare earth that now remained.

He knew what they had told him, and what was in the official records. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he had. He knew in his heart the boy was his. The boy looked nothing like the man that was supposedly to have sired him. He looked too much like Vincent.

Nobody had ever questioned why that was so. But he did. He knew.

The sound of footsteps on the gravel walkway brought him back to the here and now. And he pulled back into the deeper shadows. He knew coming here was going to be painful. And he knew this was the only place they wouldn't look for him. He was hunted around here. They knew what he was, and they despised him for it. But who would be so brave as to come here looking for him.

It wasn't until he saw the long red hair and black suit that he allowed himself to slip from the shadows.

"Do they know where I am?"

"Nobody knew, and nobody followed." Reno smiled. "Why did you pick this place?"

"This is where Sephiroth was born. This is where what I am now was born. People think this placed cursed."

"How fitting."

Vincent walked forward and took the other man in his arms.

"It must have been a beautiful place."

"It was, and it will be again."

"What is this place called?"

"Cupid's Manor. It belonged to my grandfather, and when he passed he gave it to my father. And when Hojo had him killed it became mine. I mean to fix it up."

Red eyes looked down into an aqua pair. They examined the depths of the others until a silent plea was issued. Lips came together with a soft passion, meeting in a passionate dance.

Vincent pulled back only to let his head fall to the neck of the other. Gently nipping at the skin there, at the pale scar that ran down the slender neck.

"Vinny, I am ready." Reno moaned.

Vincent pulled back from the redhead. Holding him by the shoulders.

Reno let his hands come up to the collar of the cloak the other man wore. He slowly undid the buckles and let the collar fall open.

Vincent's neck was bare, the harsh scar standing out from the pale skin.

"Will it hurt like before?"

"For a second, embrace the pain, make it yours and it will be less.

Reno licked his lips. Unsure if he should continue.

He wanted this, he really did. But he was unsure. He had only done this once before. And the memory was driving him nuts.

With one more swipe of his tongue he opened him mouth and bit down at the tender flesh. He drew the blood from the mark on the pale neck. Flashes of memory passed his eyes. Flashes of a world he had never seen. Never been part of.

He watched as a woman fed him horrible food. He looked around to make sure nobody was coming as he snuck into a house. He watched them carry a casket from a beautiful garden. He saw the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. He saw a young boy being held in comforting arms. He felt pain like he had never felt before, his whole skin on fire. He saw blackness and felt cold. He saw the fall of Sephiroth, felt the pain lance through him at the sight. He saw a pair of Turks tortured. He rushed like the wind as people hunted him.

And then the pain came. It filled him He head flung back and he screamed. Words came to the front of his mind 'embrace the pain, make it yours and it will be less'. He held the pain to his core. He let the pain wash away everything that was there and when it pulled back he could feel the world again. It was cold on his skin. He could feel the flesh hand hold him and the clawed hand steady him. His cry echoed in the distance. And then he could feel them, they pushed at his skin, the tightness was a whole different kind of pain and much less then that of before. He felt the skin tear and release what was behind it.

Fleshy wings hung limp from his back, blood dripping from them as they dried in the sun.

"It is done." A gentle voice said. "Now we must fly."

The world felt colder and lonelier when the hand and the claw moved away from him. And he knew now what he was supposed to do.

He could feel the air shift as the body in front of him took to the skies.

Reno stretched the wings wide and flapped them a few times to test their strength. When he was happy that they were strong enough he launched himself into the sky. The ground fell further and further from his body as the thin wings caught more and more air driving him up.

He looked up to the clouds for his query, a dark shape against the white and blue of the sky.

Chaos tilted his wings slightly to let him slip below the cloud cover so that the other half of him could see him. They needed to climb together, and to fall together.

When he was sure he was spotted he beat his leathery wings gaining height with every beat.

He went as high as he dared and waited. He soon felt the wind shift, the feeling of another passing him. He would not be beaten to his prize. He climbed faster. Growling when his other half got close enough to hear. A hiss sent back his way. They climbed in a rushed spiral. The warmth of the sun, the coolness of the thinning air on his skin, the knowledge that he need to be the one to come out on top, not wanting to beaten at what came naturally to him.

Reno looked around as he felt the power of his wings give out. The thin air had just sapped the oxygen from his muscles. With one last thrust of his wings he dove for Chaos. He noticed that the beast was already falling. Falling quick. He reached out and grabbed its shoulders and held them tight. He felt as the same was done for him.

Both tucked their wings back tight against their bodies. Letting gravity do thy work for them. The fell. Gaining speed as the ground rushed to meet the pair who had escaped it.

Reno leaned forward and bit down at the scar that was just as noticeable on the dark skin as it was on the pale. He felt the skin give way beneath his teeth, the metallic taste filling his mouth. He could feel chaos do the same to him.

They continued to fall, quicker and quicker toward the ground.

Reno felt the moment Chaos left. The skin beneath his hands grew softer. And yet they did not break apart. They continued to fall. Each with their teeth sunk deep into the other's throat.

And when Reno could see that they were too close to the ground he opened those wings. Pulling them sharply against the air to cut his path. His muscles screaming in pain at the sharp turn and the rush of the air as he turned the dive into a horizontal glide. He felt the bones in those wings buckle and break. The pain was immense, but he endured. He held the raven-haired man to his chest and fell to the ground.

The ground breaking what bones the sudden turn had not. Pain flashed through him.

But that soon fell away as the magic of Chaos faded from his body.

"Are you ok Reno?" Vincent asked.

"Just peachy. Is he going to do that every time?"

"I don't think so. The first time he had himself convinced that he let you win. And I think he knows now that he did lose." Vincent grinned and leaned forward to press his lips to those of the red head. "Will you take you prize now?"

"I will." Reno kissed Vincent deeply. Swallowing every moan the black haired name made. His hands slowly working at the headband that held back the flowing locks.

The headband fell away revealing a three-headed dog encased in fire that was marked on the skin.

Fumbling hands pulled away pieces of cloth, too slow for the likes of both of them, but yet too fast for the cloth itself. The clothing giving way to soft skin and fevered touches, tearing where it didn't move fast enough.

Heaps of clothing were soon scattered around the lifeless garden as moans and groans filled the air.

Pale bodies moved in a sensual ballet. Red and black hair mixing on the ground around them as they found bliss in each other. Sweat covering their bodies at the physical strain of their passion.

And in this state of bliss they died the little death and were reborn I each other's arms.

---------- ----------

Vincent awoke to the sound of many voices. They were growing louder as they came closer.

He learned over his new lover and kissed the redhead awake. "We need to get out of here now."

"Why?" Said a sleepy Reno.

"The villagers are coming."

"Why do we need fear them?"

"Reno, they know what I am, and they despise me for it." Vincent rose from the ground and started to put his clothes back on. Covering the mark on his forehead last. He leaned down and gave the still sleepy man a kiss. "I'll see you again in Edge. You'll know where to find me."

Reno watched as Vincent jumped from the garden to the roof above and out of sight. He sighed as the memories came back to him, unclouded by the effects of liquor. He finally knew what it was like. No more of the teasing memories clouded his inner eye. He remembered and he remembered it all. The feel of that skin under his hands, the feel of him encased in that blissful heat and the release that felt like nothing he had ever felt before.

But he couldn't think about it. He needed to get out of here to see Vincent again. He took his time dressing. He knew he had nothing to fear from a few villagers. He was a Turk. They couldn't touch him.

He noticed that his coat and shirt were both ripped in the back where the wings had broken free. He groaned at the sight, but put them on anyway. He had nothing else to wear.

He must have been moving slower then he had thought for an angry mob burst into the garden. Men and woman holding different weapons, everything from pitchforks for kitchen knives, handguns to high-powered rifles, and dagger to broadswords.

"Demon, you will not hurt another!" Called one man.

"I am not a demon." Reno spat back at him.

"We saw you fly today with your newest victim. Where is the body of the poor woman?"

"Woman? Body?" Reno looked around the crowd. Yes, he flew today, but there was no woman, nor a body. "Listen I don't think you know what is going on. There is no body, there was …"

"He admits his crime!" The crowd mumbled their agreement.

A woman beside him called out, "Look he ever covers the mark on his forehead."

"Mark? What mark? I just happen to like these." Reno lifted his hand to touch the goggles that rested on his forehead just above his eyes.

"Die demon!"

"Now look here! My name is Reno Masagi, a Turk for Shinra. I am in no way a demon." Reno looked at the nightstick that still lay on the ground at his feet.

"Again he admits his guilt!" A voice called from behind him. Reno spun around to see who had said it, but he couldn't match the voice to a face.

"It is said the demon is a Turk, skilled in ways of deception. "

"Look his shirt has blood on it!"

Reno groaned and looked down. His shirt collar was covered in blood. But he imagined that it was mostly his own blood.

"Look can we talk about this? I'm not a demon. I am human. I bleed red just like any of you."

"And you would know he colour of blood, would you not demon?"

"Look. I don't know whom you are hunting or what this demon looks like, but I am not a demon. How can I prove it to you?"

"Lies, all lies." The first voice called again. "He killed the beautiful Lucrecia Crescent and the gentle Tenshi Hojo.

Reno coughed. "His first name was Tenshi? And you think him the gentle angel that his name implies? That is rich. And I'm sure you thought Sephiroth was a peaceful kitten."

"And you knew Sephiroth?"

"Of course he was the General."

A gunshot was heard and Reno dodged to the side. He felt the bullet hit his arm. "Listen I'm not the demon. You are mistaken."

"Lies!" Another shot was heard and this bullet hit his leg. Reno hissed with pain as he doubled over, his hand coming to rest on the nightstick.

Reno used his good leg to launch at the person who had shot him. Putting his full force behind the blow.

"I am not a demon. I am human." He wiped his hand across the blood trickling from his arm and held it out for them to see. "Look, I bleed red just as you do!"

Another person took aim with a gun and shot, the bullet catching Reno in the shoulder. Reno screamed at the pain and tried to stay on his feet.

His cries of pain covering the cries that carried over the hills from afar.

An old man came forward holding a sword in his hands. "Your father was such a nice man. You have soiled the Valentine name creature."

Reno looked up into the man's eyes. My name is Masagi not Valentine."

The sun flashed across the blade as the man drove the blade hard and true through Reno. A gurgling cry was issued from Reno's mouth. And this one did not cover the scream of loss and pain that filled the area.

Many people shivered at what they thought was the sound of the beast within dieing.

The old man bed down and pulled the goggles from Reno's forehead. He gasped at what he saw, throwing them away in a fit of rage. "He told us the truth! He is not the demon!"

"No he is not." A silky voice said from above him. A black silhouette against the pale sky rested on the roof above their heads. "But he was special to me."

Screams echoed through the hills that day. From the stories told later a creature of great strength slaughtered a whole town. As the stories told they villagers failed to pay their guardian who grew angry at this slight. Killing every man and woman who lived in the area. The beast drove the children to the nearby Fort Condor where the residents took them in.

---------- ----------

Cloud watched as another body of somebody he knew was lowered into the earth, his soul long since gone to the life stream.

"Vincent where are you? You should have been here."

The funeral was a small affair and most of the people hadn't been able to watch as they body was lowered. Cloud had stood guard for the man for 3 days. He wasn't going to give up on him now.

When the coffin was at the bottom of the hole Cloud leaned down to the edge and placed the bloody nightstick on the cover, pulling back to watch them fill the hole. And when it was finished he moved the marker into place himself.

---------- ----------

It was long after everybody left that Vincent stepped out of the shadows the concealed him.

"He was right Reno. I should have been there. I should have stayed. I should have taken you with me.

"You fly well my friend."

Vincent knelt at the headstone and brushed his fingers over the picture of Reno.

"We will fly again you and me."

Vincent looked at the colour of the rose in his hand and reached for Cerberus. Clicking the safety off he brought it to his head.

A single gunshot echoed.

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A/N2: Ok so I didn't want to fill this with too much slash. I'm sorry if my readers wanted that. I wanted to focus on the untold love the two characters shared. And if I have confused anybody I am sorry. Also I wanted to make it clear that Reno in the game does not have a name that I know of, so I just made one up. Now go click the button and tell me what you think of it.


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